The Mary Sue Chronicles I: The Invasion
by PowerPen
Summary: The Mary Sues. They're coming. Closing in upon us all. This may be the single greatest threat the world has ever faced. They're unstoppable, and it's up to the Animorphs to stop them. Part 1 of 3.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **K.A owns the Animorphs and all related characters.

**The Mary Sue Chronicles I: The Invasion**

_We can't tell you who we are, or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful. So we don't trust anyone. Because if the Mary Sues find us... well, we just won't let them find us. The thing is, everyone is in real big trouble. Yeah, even you._

**Chapter 1: Mary**

My name is Mary. I can't tell you my last name, or even the rest of my first name. I wish I could, I really do. That would mean that the human race was safe, and there weren't people from another planet trying to kill me. But I can't, it's not, and there are.

There are things out there, powerful things, that wouldn't hesitate to destroy me if my true identity was revealed. In fact, they want our entire race exterminated, and the only people who can stop them are my friends and me.

You would think that this status would automatically grant me more freedom. But, annoyingly, I still have to do all of the normal, everyday things that other kids do to keep my cover. Sadly, that includes school.

_BRIIIIIIING!_

I walked quickly across the schoolyard, joining the mass of students pouring inside of the building. It was a typical high school hallway scene, with teenagers goofing off, huddled in small, giggling groups, or standing alone and staring wishfully at somebody.

I continued down the hallway to my locker and started stuffing my books inside.

"I didn't mean it that way!" A voice yelled, accompanied by the sound of pounding sneakers. "I'm sure she's beautiful no matter who looks at her!"

I twisted my head to look, and felt an instant connection with the boy running up the hallway. As in the two skulls colliding at a fairly dangerous speed type of connection.

We both crashed onto the floor, books and papers flying everywhere. The boy scrambled to his feet and started snatching papers out of the air.

"There you are, Marco!" A girl yelled from the end of the hallway. "I'll teach you to talk about Tanya like that!"

The boy, presumably Marco, yelped and took off again. I noticed an unfamiliar blue notebook on the floor.

"Wait, you forgot your notebook!" I called. He didn't seem to hear me.

Curiously, I turned the notebook around in my hands, searching for a name. Both covers were blank. How was I supposed to return it without a name? Annoyed, I opened it to reveal to first page.

Upon it, in rough, un-even handwriting, seven odd words stared back at me: _The Earth Diary of Aximilli-Esgarrouth-Isthill._

_- - - _

_This guy, _I thought incredulously, _must be some sort of writer prodigy._

It was wrong, I knew, to invade the privacy of the notebook. But it was like it held a strange attraction over me, making it impossible for me to put down. Terrible handwriting aside, it was one of the best stories I had ever read.

I spent every class reading it, hurrying to get it done before Marco hunted me down and furiously demanded his notebook back. It was about animal-morphing teenagers fighting an empire of mind controlling parasites, in the form of a diary. The supposed owner was Aximilli, an Andalite _Aristh _trying to adjust to life on earth in between life-and-death missions to the yeerk pool. And each mission was crazier than the last, yet it all still made sense. How did he come up with this stuff?

I didn't see Marco at all day, though maybe it was for lack of trying. In fact, he was the one who found me.

I was leaning against my locker as school was letting out, with my nose buried in the final pages of the notebook. Just as Aximilli was describing the wonderful flavor of carpet lint, Marco brushed past me with a mumbled apology. It was a few moments before I realized who it was.

"Hey, Marco!" I called reluctantly. He jumped and took off, probably mistaking me for somebody with less than friendly intentions.

"Wait!" I yelled, running after him. He was surprisingly fast, and I lost him around the corner. Suddenly, loud alarms erupted throughout the school.

Covering my ears, I looked down the hallway. Sure enough, the emergency exit door was open. But despite this overwhelming evidence something told me he hadn't gone that way.

I opened the door to the nearby janitor closet, and screamed. A mutant insect boy creature thing was sitting on a pile of clothes, becoming smaller and more bug like!

(Huh?) I heard Marco's shocked voice inside of my head. (Oh-)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Jessie**

My name is Jessica. But you will call me Jessie. It's what everybody calls me, except for my mother and the school guidance counselor. My mother insists that she named me Jessica and she should be able to call me that. I insist that Jessica is a wimpy name, but neither of them will stop. Mothers will be mothers, and you get a month's worth of detentions if you attack guidance counselors.

"Host number 71, please report to pier seventeen."

I sat up, aroused from my _Leave it to Beaver_ induced stupor. Crazy Owen, this ninety-something war veteran, was staring at the screen and sipping beer. Anybody foolish enough to try to change the channel would find out why he was called Crazy Owen.

"Host number 71, please-"

"I heard you!" I yelled, earning a reproving glare from the Hork-Bajir in the corner. I glared back. He was just for show, a reminder lest any voluntary hosts get any funny ideas.

You see, I have another name, known only to a select few. Host number 71. Meaning I was the seventy-first host to voluntarily accept a yeerk in their head.

I had most of the usual reasons: Messed up family, no friends, and a vast array of psychological issues. But mainly, I was bored. My life from kindergarten up was a long, gray, yawn-riddled monotony.

The Sharing offered me adventures and excitement, an escape, and I took it. It was strange having someone else controlling my body, but now it doesn't bother me at all. My old yeerk, Elirim, was pretty awesome. My boring human life fascinated him, for some reason, while yeerk things terrified him. It was perfect; He handled the normal social stuff, while I got to pilot the bug fighters and shoot the dracon beams. Our relationship bordered on almost friendly.

Elirim, unfortunately, recently mated with these two other yeerks. When yeerks mate, they die, so I was getting reassigned to somebody else today.

"Last call for host number 71." The voice now sounded annoyed. "Don't make us come get you, Jessie."

I grinned at the recognition from the otherwise indifferent announcer, and made my way towards the yeerk pool. I mentally braced myself as I came to the involuntary host cages. Everywhere else they could be avoided, by taking detours and side passages. But the only way in and out of the voluntary host center was past them.

They were crying at me, screaming at me from their small, dirty cages. Their hands groped at me, trying to grab me. One little boy reached out, begging me to take him to his mommy.

"Die, filth!" A wild-eyed man yelled, clawing at my arm. I brushed him off and kept walking. A young woman crossed her fingers at me, loudly assuring me that I was going to burn in hell.

Losing my temper, I kicked the cage with all the strength I could muster. My foot stung, but the woman recoiled from the bars, looking frightened.

A little girl sharing the cage burst into tears. Suppressing feelings of guilt, I walked a little faster. They were all so stupid. Why choose to sit inside of a cage instead of walking free, when all you had to do was accept the inevitable?

The uber-religious freaks were the worse by far. They were forever declaring you a damned soul, or praying, or crossing themselves when you went past. And, according to Elirim, they would never shut up. They literally drove some yeerks crazy.

I pulled open a door at the end of the hall and walked through. The sound of their screaming died immediately as I slammed it shut behind me. The cleverly positioned humans were another message from the yeerks to voluntary hosts. If you ever betrayed them, that's how you would end up. Just another helpless, screaming human rotting in a cage.

I was in a small side room, only about the size of a large closet. In the center of the room was a small bowl of sludge, with a pipe that probably led to the main yeerk pool. Next to it stood a ticked off Hork-Bajir.

"Come on." She said impatiently, jabbing the bowl towards me. I took it, and lifted it to my ear.

I felt the familiar slimy touch at me ear, and the wriggling sensation, but no pain. Weird. After a minute or two, I felt a strange presence, and sudden weight inside of my head.

(Hello?) I called.

There was silence. I couldn't even feel any foreign emotion or thoughts.

(Hello?) I called again.

(H-Hello.) A queasy, unfamiliar voice said. (Just a minute.)

I felt a sudden pressure in my forehead, a wave of nausea, and then sudden pain on my arm. (Hey! What are you doing in there?)

(What are you-) The voice said again. Then my ear popped, and the nausea receded.

I waved my head to clear it, noticing that the Hork-Bajir was clutching my arm. Her wrist blade had cut me.

"Let go." My mouth snapped. My body straightened up. "I have full control."

(Yeah, about that..) I started hopefully.

(I will be in full command of this body at _all times_. I am Jeryi 2, not a replacement Elirim.) He said, rifling through my memories. He sounded shocked. (_Especially_ during combat situations!)

I mentally growled. (I live for piloting bug fighters! You have to let me!)

I felt more pressure inside of my head, and Jeryi bristled. (Stop that!)

(You stop it!) I demanded angrily. Then, a memory came floating to the top of my mind. A little girl, crying alone underneath a slide, while rain poured down around her and thunder rumbled.

(I'm not doing anything!) I said, now more upset than angry. But another memory came, of the same girl lying on the ground, screaming herself hoarse and nobody paying any attention.

(Would you stop that!) I yelled. The memories faded, and there was a feeling of intense smugness radiating from Jeryi. My head was no longer throbbing.

The Hork-Bajir looked at us as we left, clearly disturbed.

(If you ever do that again..) I threatened emptily.

Jeryi laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Mary**

Marco totally has something wrong with him. After he turned into the mutant bug and totally freaked me out, he was yelling at me. I mean, _I_ should have been yelling at _him_ for freaking me out like that, right? And then he forced me to come with him to this smelly barn place. I didn't want to come, but he practically, like, manhandled me.

So, now I was sitting on some prickly hay. Standing in front of me was a tall, handsome boy with brown hair. But I didn't like him because he was blocking the sunlight from my pretty face. And there was this blonde girl sitting next to me, looking like she was totally going to kill me if I hiccuped. I didn't like her because she looked like she was totally going to kill me if I hiccuped.

There was another girl standing next to the sunlight blocking boy. She had on the most totally revolting outfit I had ever seen. She was looking at me kind of nicely, but I didn't like her because the tall, handsome guy was looking at _her_ kind of nicely, and I might like him if he ever got out of my sunlight.

Marco was totally pacing back and forth, with this super serious expression on his face. Above us, there was a red-tailed hawk, who I guessed was actually a really cute boy. Nobody told me, it was just my cute boy intuition.

The handsome boy in my sunlight looked at me meanly. "Where did you get that notebook from?"

"He dropped it." I said, and pointed at Marco.

"I didn't have it!" Marco said angrily. "I didn't even know Ax had a diary!"

(I was writing in it this morning.) A blue alien said. He sounded kind of angry. (It is not possible for either of them to have had it.)

(Then why did she have it?) The bird/cute boy said.

"He dropped it." I said again, and pointed my cute little finger at Marco. My cute little finger had a pink nail, by the way. My nails are lots of different colors, but today they were pink.

(My latest entry was at ten o'clock today. Yet you claim to have been reading it at the same time.) The alien said. (Therefore, you are lying.)

"I, like, never lie." I said, because I don't.

"Okay, can you tell us what happened, then?" The nice girl that I didn't like asked.

"He dropped the notebook," I said, pointing at Marco. "And then I picked it up, and read it. But I totally wasn't snooping, I never snoop. I wanted to know who's notebook it was. I never snoop."

I never snoop, by the way.

(You read the entire notebook?) The alien said angrily.

"I was looking for the owner's name, not, like, snooping." I reminded it. "Then school ended, and I saw Marco. And I wanted to give him the notebook back, because I am totally not a thief. Then I called him, but he started running for some reason."

"For your information, when people yell my name like that, I run." Marco said.

"Then he went into the janitor closet and turned into the bug thing and freaked me out." I pouted.

The tall boy blocking my sunlight looked at Marco with a raised eyebrow. "Excuse me? You morphed?"

Marco looked at me meanly. "I don't know what happened. My mind just went totally blank. I couldn't think of anything else to do."

The mean blonde girl looked like she wanted to say something. The nice girl interrupted.

"Nobody blames you, Marco." She said. The tall boy who was still blocking my sunlight didn't look like he agreed, but he remained quiet.

"So, you're going to make me an Animorph, and I'll acquire cool animals, and we'll totally take down the yeerks, right?" I asked.

Everybody froze. The bird looked at me fiercely.

(What gave you that idea?) It said kind of icy-like.

I moved to the right, so that the sun could sparkle through my silky silver-auburn hair, and reflect from my shiny violet eyes, and glance off of my pearly ebony skin.

"Because," I said. "I'm pretty, and I already know, and I'm pretty, and I'm sure I would be a great Animorph, and I'm pretty."

I'm very pretty, by the way.

The tall handsome boy stared at me, then shook his head as if to clear it. "That's not how it works."

I was totally thrown off. I mean, in my experiences, that was _exactly _how it worked.

"What?" I demanded furiously. My eyes flashed turquoise-gold from annoyance, and the nice girl looked freaked out.

"Did you see that?" She asked.

"See what?" Marco asked.

"Her eyes!" She said, pointing at me.

"My eyes are attractive, aren't they?" I said, opening them really really wide so everybody could see them.

"They were just blue!" She said. "Didn't anybody see?"

The mean girl and the handsome boy shook their heads. The alien shook his head also.

"You must have seen, Tobias!" The girl said a little desperately.

(Sorry.) The bird that was really a cute boy whose name I now knew was Tobias said.

"But they were just blue! Now they're this purple color." The nice girl who was starting to annoy me said.

"I think you mean turquoise-gold and violet." I suggested helpfully.

"Why are your eyes even purple?" She asked. "Are you wearing contact lenses or something?"

"_Vi- oh- let_." I said slowly. The nice girl looked at me very hard.

"Is this even important?" Marco asked.

"Yes, it is important!" The nice girl said loudly. "This is already mysterious enough without unexplained eye colors!"

"Calm down." The handsome boy said, and put a hand on her shoulder. Then he jumped backwards.

"Oh, oh, oh!" He yelped, pointing at me. "Her eyes just were purple for a second!"

"They still _are_ purple!" The nice girl who wasn't acting so nice anymore said.

(I do not detect anything strange about her pupil color.) The alien said.

The mean girl grabbed my face and twisted me towards her. She put her face totally close to mine, and stared into my eyes.

"They're purple. So?" The girl said, shoving my face away.

"Do you even hear yourself?" The nice girl asked. "They're _purple_."

They would totally never stop arguing if I didn't do something. I'm really good at breaking up arguments, by the way.

"I'm, like, becoming an Animorph, right?" I said.

They all looked at me again.

"You should totally vote." I suggested.

The tall handsome boy frowned at me. I smiled, revealing my shiny, perfect, straight, pearly white, teeth. He kind of grabbed his eyes from pain.

"Ahh!" He said. "Your teeth are so bright!"

"They're two thousand percent more reflective than silly con." I announced proudly.

(I think that you mean silicon.) The alien corrected.

"I said that." I sighed, my eyes flashing emerald-maroon from pity. The alien must not have come from a very intelligent species.

(You mispronounced the second syllable.) He said. (You used a long 'e' sound instead of a short 'i' sound.)

"Whatever." I said, rolling my emerald-maroon eyes. "Everyone who wants me to be an Animorph should totally raise their hands."

I gave them a mean look, but nobody budged.

"Whoever doesn't want me to be a Animorph, raise your hand." I said. Do you know what they did? Every single one of them raised their hand. Even the cute bird Tobias fluttered his wing.

"Whoever doesn't totally not not not not not not not not not not want me to be an Animorph, don't not raise your hand." I said very trickily.

The alien raised his hand immediately. The tall handsome boy and Tobias looked uncertain. After a minute of hesitation, Marco rasied his hand.

"Now wait a minute-" The nice girl said.

"Raise you hand or don't raise your hand." I said sweetly, my turquoise-gold eyes boring into her brown ones.

"No!" She said, sounding mad. "We can't just let her play word games-"

_**CHOOSE! **_

The nice girl jerked like she had been shocked.

"Well?" I said. There was a sneer in my pretty little voice.

She scanned the barn, and slowly raised her hand. That made it three to three.

I was totally steaming.

"Aren't you going to follow your Prince?" I demanded of the alien shrilly. It looked unsure.

(I am satisfied with my vote.) He said finally. The nice girl smiled at it.

"It's a tie, then." The nice girl said, sounding satisfied.

"We'll get back to you when we come to an agreement." Marco said, sounding equally satisfied.

I narrowed my now turquoise-gold eyes at them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Tobias**

I floated over the darkening forest, completely exhausted. The sun was setting, and the air was starting to cool. As any bird would tell you if they could talk, this meant you had to flap constantly just to maintain your altitude.

It didn't help that I had been circling through the same parts of the forest about ten times. This was to confuse Mary, so that she wouldn't be able to find her way back to the scoop if she got, or already was, infested. Ax had serious doubts whether it was even necessary, for she seemed confused enough already.

(One more circuit?) I asked Ax privately, as Mary paused to rest on a rock that she had rested on five times already. She didn't even seem to notice that she had already been here.

(I think that eleven times is enough.) He said back. (To be entirely truthful, I think that the second time was unnecessary to confuse this particular human.)

(Yeah.) I agreed. (Better safe than sorry though, right? She already knows where the barn is, and we don't want to give out any more information.)

(Yes.) Ax sounded troubled. (That was a serious tactical error on our part. I- I am ashamed that we allowed that to happen.)

I started to offer some reassuring words, but found none. How had we let that-

"I am sooooo tired." Mary complained loudly, slinging her backpack onto the ground. She had done that five times already also, and it landed in the same pile of leaves each time; Her obliviousness was astounding. "How big could one forest possibly be, anyway?"

Neither of us decided to answer.

"I totally need some energy." Mary announced. She unzipped her backpack and pulled out a chocolate bar covered in a gold wrapper. Ax looked at it hopefully.

"No." Mary said, catching his eye.

(The limitless human capacity for sharing is a virtue that I greatly admire.) Ax said suggestively.

Mary peeled the wrapper off of the candy bar and took a large, yet somehow small, bite. If Ax had a mouth, it would have been drooling.

"Could you tell him to back off?" Mary said, as his stalk eyes followed the candy bar on its trip from her mouth, to a resting position, then back to her mouth.

(Hey, Ax, chill. There are cinnamon buns back at the scoop, remember?) I said privately. I mean, I swear I included only Ax in my thought-speech. But Mary jumped to her feet a second later.

"Mmm, I love cinnamon buns!" She said. "They're like the most totally awesome food in existence!"

She wolfed down the rest of the chocolate bar with oxymoronical daintiness, and picked back up her backpack. Without even waiting for Ax, she started walking in the general direction of the scoop.

(Hey!) I called, and dove down after her. Ax started after her with a determined air.

(Do not touch any of the cinnamon buns!) He commanded fiercely.

I peered through the faint, orange-tinted glow of the evening light. Mary, though she was walking and we were moving as fast as possible, managed to keep just ahead of us until we reached the scoop. That was when Ax put on a burst of speed and jumped into the door just ahead of her.

(You, Mary,) Ax said calmly, blocking the doorway. (Will wait out here until the scoop is- prepared- for your presence.)

"He's a sloppy housekeeper, huh?" Mary asked me knowingly. "Wants to grace me with a clean scoop?"

Ax was more likely locking up his "valuables", which he considered to be his cinnamon bun box and remote control.

(Yeah, what you said.) I responded.

"And what about this Animorph stuff? Why is everyone making such a big deal about it?" She asked. "Why not just let me have the morphing power?"

I ruffled my feathers, getting a little tired of the question. I decided to set things straight right now.

(Alright, you read about the yeerks in Ax's diary, right?) I asked.

"Yeah. They're these totally evil slugs that-"

(Great. And you know that anyone, anyone at all, could be a controller?)

Mary hesitated, then nodded.

(So, you could be a controller, right?) I prodded.

Mary stared at me with a blank expression for a full minute. Then she shook her head back and forth slowly and pityingly.

(Well, you know that, but what I mean is, we Animorphs have no way of knowing that you're not a controller.) I clarified.

Mary shook her head no.

(What do you mean, no?) I asked irritably. (Didn't you just agree that anyone could be a controller?)

Mary shook her head no again.

(Yes you did.) I said.

"No, I didn't." She insisted. "I said anybody could be a controller. I didn't say _anybody _could be a controller."

(That's the same thing. You're somebody, aren't you?) I said a little loudly.

"Of course I'm somebody." She sniffed.

(Then why aren't you anybody?) I demanded.

"I'm not somebody." She said.

(You just got finished saying you were somebody!) I half-yelled.

"I'm not just somebody. You're just a somebody. I'm a _somebody_." Mary said, clearly emphasizing the final 'somebody'. "And I'm not just anybody, I'm an anybody who's _anybody_. _Somebodies _and a_nybodies _aren't controllers."

I paused for a minute. The first thirty seconds were to parse what she had just said. The other thirty seconds were from stunned exasperation.

(Anybody, or _anybody_, can be a controller.) I said. (_You_ could be a controller.)

"But I'm not!" She said.

(Fine, ok.) I sighed. (You're not. But we. Don't. Know. That.)

"But you just admitted I wasn't!" She said, and had the nerve to sound frustrated. "How could you not know it?"

(Are you doing this on purpose?) I demanded. (Or are you just-)

(You may now enter the scoop.) Ax interrupted, probably just in time. Mary squealed in excitement and skipped inside. Ax and I followed.

"Where's the cinnamon buns?" She said, sounding disappointed. "I totally thought there would be some."

(During your stay here, there will be strict rules.) Ax said, ignoring her. (Do not leave the scoop unless Tobias or I accompany you. Do not touch anything unless given permission to. Do not attempt to communicate with anybody else besides Tobias or myself. Is that clear?)

Mary pouted.

(Is that _clear_?) Ax rumbled in his best prison warden voice.

"Fine." She said in a pouty voice. "You're mean!"

(I am being cautious.) He snapped.

"Mean." She whispered loudly.

Ax's stalk eyes frowned. (You will be sleeping over there.)

Mary looked over at the pile of blankets that Ax pointed to, and her eyes flashed clear. Clear, as in transparent, as in I could see the inside of her eyeballs. I had this ungraspable feeling, like maybe I should be sort of be disturbed by this. Then it slipped from my mind like a dream.

"I am not sleeping there!" She said kindly.

Ax looked at her funnily. (Yes, you are. Unless you would prefer the grass.)

She pouted again, then brightened up. "Hey, I know! Why don't we stay up all night and do fun stuff?"

I looked at Ax. (Can we pretty please just kill her now?)


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Jessie**

I walked through the woods. It was pitch black, so I couldn't see the trees or the plants. I could only feel; I could feel the soft, damp grass crushing beneath my bare feet and springing back up after I took my next step. And the sky – There was no moon, but there were so many stars that it was beyond belief. Clusters and swirls of baby blue, gold, grass green, violet, turquoise – It was amazing.

Then I spotted a dim, plain white star among them that seemed out of place. Then, like an illusion where the faces become the background and you suddenly see a vase, the white star looked normal and I was reminded that maybe the other stars shouldn't be violet and gold and blue. Should they?

I suddenly noticed I was wearing pajamas. That made sense. It was nighttime, so I was wearing pajamas. Or was it nighttime because I was wearing pajamas?

No matter. I continued walking, trying to divide my attention between where I was going and the stars. But this didn't work too well, and I immediately sliced my foot open on a rock. After a few moments of swearing, I continued walking, focusing completely on where I was going.

Wait, where was I going? I realized I had no idea. I kept walking, and the ground became rougher, yet somehow easier to walk on. Then it gave way completely, and I was falling. But I was falling upwards, towards the sky, becoming absorbed in its overwhelming darkness, but also beginning to shine. Like one of the stars. I wondered what color I'd be....

"_Like, totally help me!"_

The serenity and the illusion shattered, and I sat bolt up in my bed. Unfortunately, I had become tangled up in the sheets, and I didn't manage to keep my balance. My floor was the rough, hardwood kind that wasn't a lot of fun to fall onto.

"Ouch!" My mouth said. Jeryi was awake, and had taken control of our body. "Stupid human. What did you do that for?"

He impatiently rifled through my memories without waiting for an answer. "A dream?"

He flipped through the memory, causing my head to throb again. The dream played back through my head, in clips and snatches. I never was very good at remembering my dreams.

"I can't get all of the details." He said, sounding annoyed. "My goodness, you can't even handle your own mental functions properly, can you?"

(Who cares? It was just a dream.) I snapped. (And stop speaking out loud, there are other people in this house, you know.)

"Dreams can be important." He said, quite possibly louder than before.

(Dreams don't mean anything.) I said, as Jeryi finished untangling us from the sheets. (Dreams are just a distraction from real life.)

"Dreams are messages to yourself from yourself." Jeryi said in a wiser-than-you voice. "And sometimes, from others."

That was strange. As far as I knew, that type of stuff didn't really hold with the yeerks, and Jeryi sounded like he meant it literally. Of course, the only yeerk I had truly known was Elirim, and he was a bit of a weirdo.

"Yes, I mean it literally." Jeryi snapped. "You humans are so unknowledgeable about these things, aren't you?"

We heard the sound of feet coming down the hallway. I mentally groaned.

(And _this _is why you needed to be quiet.) I sighed, as my door opened. Laura, my seven year old...half-sister, for lack of a better word, was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. Derek, two years older and thankfully not related to me at all, was rubbing his eyes behind her.

"What?" Jeryi asked.

"Kevin told us to tell you to shut up." Derek said matter-off-factly.

"Or else he'll waste you." Laura added.

I laughed inwardly. Kevin threatened to waste me on a weekly basis, but was in fact terrified of me. It was why he always sent Derek or Laura instead of confronting me himself.

Jeryi rooted through my head for something to say. Something that I would say-

(Ow!) I yelped.

"The futility of your resistance is manifesting itself as physical pain." Jeryi snarled. "Stop resisting, and the pain will stop."

Laura and Derek stared at me.

"What the fuck is that supposed mean?" Laura demanded.

"That means that you'll get your little asses back to bed if you know what's good for you." I growled menacingly. I thought I had only suggested it to Jeryi, but was surprised when I heard the words spoken out loud.

Derek turned and fled down the hallway. Laura stuck her tongue out at me, and then followed him.

(What it the kandrona - How did you -) Jeryi spluttered. (Stop resisting!)

(I'm not _resisting_.) I snapped back.

"Not consciously." He said, in an annoying lecturing tone. "I can see into your sub-concious, you know. Deep down, you refuse to accept a true yeerk's control. If you continue, I'm going to recommend you be relocated as a full-cycle involuntary host."

I recommended that Jeryi relocate himself somewhere impolite.

No way in hell was I ever going to be one of those dumb people inside of a cage. Especially not full-cycle. Full-cycle meant that you lived down in the yeerk pool 24/7, after the empire pulled some sort of stunt to explain your absence. Full-cyclers were either used as guinea pigs in experiments, hosts for high-ranks that couldn't be bothered to maintain a cover, or for reproduction. Neither of the three sounded very inviting.

"No, they really don't." Jeryi said, with a smirk that didn't belong in my voice. He reached into my mind, and started plugging away at the memory of my dream. What was so important about it that he would stand in my doorway, in the middle of the night, picking away at my head, was beyond me. All I know is that it hurt – bad - and it was really starting to piss me off. This wasn't normal, it couldn't be. Hosts weren't supposed to feel physical pain when a yeerk searched through their memories. Hosts weren't supposed to be able to resist their yeerks, especially without even trying. Jeryi had to be some kind of defective yeerk or something.

"Much better." Jeryi said in that same smirky voice. But our voice was strained, like we had just finished running up and down several flights of stairs. I was surprised he didn't comment on the thoughts I just had. Maybe he hadn't heard them?

He bent down and threw the sheets back onto the bed. Instead of climbing in with them, he walked over to my dresser.

(What are you doing?) I couldn't help demanding.

He reached into the first drawer and started rifling through all of the clothes inside. Granted, they weren't in there all that neat to begin with, but I still didn't appreciate it.

"Looking for the pajamas." He answered, ripping out the second drawer and turning it upside down. "I knew the dream meant something."

(It meant you had to destroy my dresser?) I growled, as he emptied the third one.

"Quiet." He said, toying with another one of my memories. Oh God, not _that _one.

(Alright, Alright!) I said quickly. Jeryi pulled out the fourth and last drawer, and yanked the clothes out with an air of annoyance.

I was annoyed too. Of course, the pajamas were at the very bottom of the last drawer. I hate _things_.

Jeryi, with total disregard for my privacy, stripped off my jeans and T-shirt. Even worse, he put the pajamas on us. The too-small, faded-pink pajamas. _Pink_. I don't know what eight year old me had been thinking.

Jeryi flexed my arms and legs experimentally. The pajamas were from Goodwill, so they were in the too-big-for-you-but-you're-getting-them-anyway size. But the height difference between eight years old and twelve still left about three inches of arm and leg exposed.

"I suppose this will have to do." Jeryi said in a snotty voice. I would have gritted my teeth if I had control of my mouth.

We opened the window and climbed out onto the roof. Jeryi made a big show of dragging us laboriously over the gutter and dropping heavily onto the front lawn.

(You could have used the door.) I reminded him. Or informed him, if he hadn't even bothered to look at my memories of my home. (No one would have cared.)

"I can see you and your spawn-mates are going to need major adjustments." Jeryi sighed.

(Adjustments?) I snapped, as we started trotting up the sidewalk. (I don't require adjustments! And where are we going, anyway?)

"I am going to the forest."

(You're going to the WHAT?) I choked. Well, I would have choked if- you know.

"The forest."

(That's it!) I yelled. (You're crazy! Why the HELL are you walking in bare feet and pajamas to a forest that is miles away? The next time we go to the complex, I'm getting a yeerk that isn't on maple and-)

Jeryi, with a sadistic wave of pleasure, turned on the cruelest memory he could find.

It wasn't the absolute worst of my memories. To be honest, it didn't even really come close. It was just bad enough that I was whimpering and sobbing pathetically inside of my head, begging for Jeryi to stop. But the only thing I felt from Jeryi was...joy. Pure, unadulterated joy, like this was the best fun he had ever had in his life.


End file.
